Tash Rabat - Song Kol (Таш Рабат – Сонкёль)

Preciosa ruta de 182 km entre Tash Rabat y el lago Song Kol, atravesando una gran diversidad de paisajes y 3 pasos de montaña. Realmente merece la pena hacerla.


Tash Rabat is a well-preserved 15th century stone caravanserai in At Bashy district, Naryn Province, Kyrgyzstan located at the altitude of 3,200 meters. As early as in 1888, a Russian doctor and traveler Nicolay Lvovich Zeland suggested that it was originally a Nestorian or Buddhist monastery. Researches undertaken in the end of 1970-s and beginning of 1980-s by the Institute of History of the Kyrgyz Academy of Sciences concluded that Tash Rabat was originally built as a Nestorian monastery in the tenth century, although no artifacts sacred to Christians have been found during excavations.

Tash Rabat is located somewhat east of the main north-south highway. To the south is Lake Chatyr-Kul and Torugart Pass. To the north is Koshoy Korgon, a ruined fortress of uncertain date. The area is a center for hiking and horse-trekking.

The structure consists of 31 rooms including cavities in the central hall. The rooms are dome-shaped; transition from a quadrangular frame to a dome is by a squinch. Tash Rabat is completely laid by crushed stone on clay mortar with sealing joints by gypsum mortar.(WIKIPEDIA)

Song Köl (also Son Kul, Songköl, Song-Köl; Kyrgyz: Соңкөл, is an alpine lake in northern Naryn Province, Kyrgyzstan. It lies at an altitude of 3016 m, and has an area of about 270 km2 and volume of 2.64 km3. Lake's maximum length is 29 km, breadth about 18 km, and extreme depth f 13.2 m. It is the second largest lake after Issyk Kul Lake, and the largest fresh water lake in Kyrgyzstan. Its name, meaning "following lake", is popularly considered to refer to this relation. It is surrounded by a broad summer pasture and then mountains. Its beauty is greatly praised, but it is rather inaccessible. The best approach seems to be the 85 km road from Sary-Bulak on the main north-south highway. Other routes require 4x4s. There are no facilities on the lake, but local herders will provide supplies and rent yurts. The area is inhabited and safely accessible only from June to September..(WIKIPEDIA)